Wayne Knight portrayed Jerry's nemesis Newman, and "Hello Newman" became a catchphrase of the show.

Since 2011, Knight, shown here with David Alan Basche, has had a role as Haskell Lutz on the TV Land series "The Exes."

Jerry Stiller played George's long-suffering father, Frank Costanza -- a role that took his fame as a comic actor to new heights.

Stiller found more sitcom gold as Arthur Spooner on the CBS series "The King of Queens." That series ended in 2007.

Estelle Harris starred as George's mother, Estelle Costanza.

Harris has stayed busy acting and doing voice work, including roles on the animated series "Futurama" and the voice of Mrs. Potato Head in the "Toy Story" franchise.

John O'Hurley was often the butt of the joke as J. Peterman when he teamed up with Louis-Dreyfus.

O'Hurley has remained popular since the end of "Seinfeld." He was a contestant on "Dancing with the Stars" in 2005, and he was host of "Family Feud" from 2006 to 2010. He also has been host of the annual National Dog Show Presented by Purina.

With his Super Bowl commercial, Seinfeld is back on the radar, but his comments come at the same time as debate about diversity in comedy. "Saturday Night Live" hired its first black female cast member in years after an outcry over the show's lack of diversity.

Gawker writer Kyle Chayka writes that by Seinfeld saying, "I have no interest in gender or race or anything like that," the comic "seems to suggest that any comedian who is not a white male is also not funny, though he's also likely fed up with the amount of bad comedy he's been forced to sit through in his (waning) career."

"Which is too bad, because Seinfeld is downplaying the work of everyone from Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby to Aziz Ansari, Mindy Kaling, and Eddie Huang, who are all in various stages of their own sitcoms that just might turn out to be the next 'Seinfeld,' " Chayka writes.

It's not the first time Seinfeld has faced criticism regarding racial issues.

When his hit NBC series "Seinfeld" ended in 1998, the Los Angeles Times had a feature about how it was a "nonevent" for many in the black community because it had never seemed to capture the black audience because of a perceived lack of diversity.

"Observers said that the lack of 'Seinfeld' fever among blacks is mainly attributable to the almost total absence of minority characters on the New York-based sitcom," reported Los Angeles Times writer Greg Braxton. "Some supporting characters -- including an attorney modeled after defense lawyer Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. -- have been featured in the last few seasons, but many said the show is still seen as a program that excludes minorities."